7 Witnesses To Shooting Questioned

January 14, 1988|By John Lucadamo and Joseph Sjostrom.

Investigators have questioned seven civilian witnesses to the shooting of a man after a chase involving a suburban police officer, according to Brian Telander, head of the Du Page County state`s attorney`s criminal division.

The investigation of the Sunday incident, in which a McHenry man, Gerald Reinert, was shot by a police officer`s gun, is drawing to a conclusion, Telander said Wednesday. The Hanover Park officer has been identified as Shawn Beane, 33, a four-year member of the force.

``We have interviewed eight civilian witnesses,`` Telander said, but one did not see the actual shooting. ``And we have interviewed the officer twice that I know of.``

Telander declined to give an account of what authorities believe happened. But he did dispute a witness` account related by a law firm hired to represent Reinert`s family.

According to James McGing, a lawyer in the firm of Francis Nolan, the witness saw the police officer outside his squad car ``raise his weapon,``

crouch and fire. McGing would not identify the witness.

But Telander said the witness apparently was Chauncey Neubauer, who lives near the site of the shooting, in Bloomingdale. Telander said his office did not realize that he was a witness until Neubauer was interviewed on television Sunday night.

``(Assistant State`s Atty.) Joseph Birkett was sent to find him and interview him, which he did,`` Telander said. ``However, Neubauer`s account is inconsistent with the accounts of six other witnesses to the shooting.``

A woman who answered the telephone at Neubauer`s house said he would not be home until Thursday morning.

Nolan`s law firm also said it could account for the whereabouts of Reinert on Saturday up to about an hour before the police chase and shooting, which occurred between midnight and 12:20 a.m. Sunday, McGing said. He said that Reinert, who was 24, had been with family members and that no alcohol or drugs had been used.

Beane began pursuing Reinert`s car because it was being driven erratically, according to an account of the events leading up to the shooting provided by Du Page County State`s Atty. James Ryan Tuesday.

McGing said the firm`s investigators had found the witness, who said he was50 yards away when he heard a vehicle crash.

Reinert`s car struck a guardrail along Glen Ellyn Road in Bloomingdale, just south of Lake Street, Ryan said.

The area is on the eastern fringes of the village and is not well lighted.

The witness said he saw Reinert standing outside the car and the officer standing outside his squad car on the passenger side, McGing said.

The witness said that he ``heard yelling`` from the officer but that he heard no response from the other man, McGing said.

The two were standing a ``couple of feet apart,`` Nolan said the witness told his investigators.

The witness then said he saw the officer ``raise his weapon,`` crouch and fire, McGing said. There is no evidence that Reinert had a firearm.

McGing said the law firm has investigators canvassing the area. He said that the Du Page state`s attorney`s office had located ``approximately seven witnesses.`` McGing added, ``We`re confident of their investigation.``

Telander said the task facing his office and the Bloomingdale police, which also is investigating because the shooting took place in that village, is deciding from witnesses` accounts and physical evidence how the shooting happened. No charges have been filed.

Based on interviews with Reinert`s family, McGing said Nolan`s office can account for his whereabouts until about one hour before the shooting, when he dropped a younger brother off at his job at 11 p.m.

Reinert then drove toward Bloomingdale, where he planned to visit friends from work, McGing said.

According to Ryan, Beane began pursuing Reinert`s car on Lake Street in Hanover Park. The officer curbed the car, but it sped away.

The officer continued pursuit into Bloomingdale, where Reinert`s car turned south onto Glen Ellyn Road and struck the barricade, Ryan said.

Ryan did not offer a reconstruction of the shooting Tuesday, saying only that by the time backup police officers had been summoned to the scene, Reinert was lying fatally wounded on the ground behind his car.

Reinert was taken to Glendale Heights Community Hospital, where he died at 1:30 a.m. Monday.

McGing said that Reinert was a loading dock manager for an Elk Grove Village firm and had worked there about two years.

Reinert had lost four toes on his right foot and two fingers on his left hand after he suffered frostbite about 10 years ago, McGing said. He walked with a limp but wasn`t ``crippled,`` McGing said.